


Cut Hands and Spinning Heads

by WhumpTown



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Malcolm Bright Whump, Malcolm Bright is a lovable idiot, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-08 00:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20984909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhumpTown/pseuds/WhumpTown
Summary: Bright cuts his handDani patches him upThey argue





	Cut Hands and Spinning Heads

**Author's Note:**

> I need prompts so bad

As Gil speaks, he hands out the Chinese food he ordered for them. Dani and JT get very similar boxes pushed their way. Bright watches Gil’s movements, eyes calculating his next movements and waiting for Gil to push one his way. His sigh of relief when Gil doesn’t push any of the boxes towards him goes unnoticed. The mere smell coming from the box Dani has was making his stomach twist bitterly. Threateningly. He’s not sure he could keep his morning tea down if one of those boxes came under his nose. 

“So,” Gil takes a seat, finishing his thoughts by tossing chopsticks to Dani and a fork to JT. “I want JT here, you’re going to finish up the groundwork. I need you running a background check on guys that fit Bright’s profile. Dani, I need you on the ground, take Bright with you. He’s our man on this case, you might miss our guy but Bright won’t.” 

Dani makes a sound in the back of her throat, it’s both acknowledgment and annoyance. JT shoots a glance at Bright and then frowns at Gil. “How come I can’t go out on the field? Dani always gets to go out.”

Malcolm looks down at his hands, scratching cuticles with his nails to hide a small smirk. It never fails to surprise Malcolm how child-like JT can be. His questions and comments always seem strange but it’s obvious the man is intelligent.

Gil rolls his eyes,” well, JT, if you’d like to spend the afternoon with Bright then be my guest. I just thought you’d rather play solitaire on the computer.” The older man glances at JT for only a minute and it’s obvious what JT really wants, solitaire duh, before taking a bite of his food. That’s the final thought on that subject.

He can feel Dani watching him, he’d rather pick at the dry skin on his hands than meet her eyes. He knows what she’s thinking, probably looking at his cheekbones or wondering just how easy it is to see his ribs if he wasn’t so meticulous about hiding his forever thinning physique under a vest and coat. It makes him feel ashamed, he hates letting down people he lo-... He doesn’t want to let her down. 

The mere thought makes his left-hand jerk so hard he smashes it into the table. He contains a hiss, pulling it to his chest, and avoids the eyes he knows are now all looking at him. “S-Sorry. Thought I saw a spider.” He rubs his thumb roughly into his palm, hoping it will ease the tremor but still knowing that it won’t. 

It takes a moment but the trembling goes away and the other’s eyes’ don’t tear at his flesh like rabid dogs. He wonders if Gil, or maybe even Dani, will push him to talk. Will they ask if he’s eaten?

_ “Are you going to eat a meal today?”_

_“One would assume.”_

He tries. Sometimes he can manage a few spoonfuls of oatmeal or a bite of banana but on days like this morning, the smell of his tea nearly had him on his knees. He won’t lie if they ask but he doesn’t want to admit that a rootbeer sucker is the only thing he’s had spare a sip of tea and a handful of medicine. 

“Your hands bleeding.”

Malcolm looks into his lap and sees she’s right. He split his knuckle, the blood spilling between his fingers. He opens his hands, lifting his right hand off the left. His firm grip has left crescent moons in the side of his palm and a clean area from where his fingers blocked the blood.

“That’s a lot of blood, Bright.” 

He’d nod but his head swarms in hazy black dots. Instead, he just looks back down at his hand. His doctor, an actual like physician, had told him his eating habits combined with his medication were going to cause him to develop an iron deficiency if he didn’t have one already. He’d nodded along because he’s been told that since he was about ten. He hadn’t taken it seriously then why would he start now?

She’s still right. There’s a lot of blood just pouring over his hand and on to his pants.

“Bright?” 

He looks up from his hand and finds Dani crouched on her haunches beside him. She moves her hand slowly towards his and he watches the hesitant movement. She’s trying to make sure she doesn’t scare him that’s a weird little thing. He doesn’t feel panicked but then again maybe she’s afraid of his eerie calm. Now that he thinks about it, he’s afraid of it too.

Dani’s hands are cold and her fingers are gentle. It still stings when she pulls at the split skin on his knuckle. He doesn’t pull away though, hardly jerks even as the blood starts to spill quicker down his hands. Dani makes a clicking sound at him,” you’re going to need at least two stitches. This is…” Dani releases his hand sighing in that way people do when they’re annoyed in a… 

She’s annoyed with him the same way everyone else always is. It makes him wonder if she’ll start doing tricky little things like the others too. Buying two sandwiches when he’s around and saying it’s just because ‘the sandwiches here are so good!’. Fresh fruit and bagels making their way into his apartment but also into his hands. Water bottles, fruit drinks, and smoothes that seem to come from anywhere and always end up pushed to him. 

“Don’t need ‘em.” Maybe a better bite of banana this morning would have been a good idea. Especially since his head is spinning like a merry-go-round and the whole iron thing, he’s just a mess. The last thing he wants to do is get carried or pushed into a hospital in a wheelchair. He can’t stand, he’d end up on his ass, but he can sit right here in this chair sit passionately for what he wants. No. Hospital.

Dani sighs. “Bright-”

Bright closes his fist, wincing but overall he proves his point. “Bones not broken, swelling is down enough that I can bend it, so I’m fine.” He clears his throat, a tactic he thought would also settle his stomach. It doesn’t. “Technically, I have a Doctoral degree, so if anyone can say whether this needs stitches or not it’s me.”

Dani rolls her eyes, dramatically. She stands up, shaking her head, and tries to remember where it was she saw the good med kit for the station. “You have a Ph.D. in Psychology. You didn’t even do rounds or practice in a hospital, Bright. You told me that yourself.”

Bright shrugs,” I still have a Ph.D.”

Dani scoffs,” yeah? I have years of practice with the NYD, I have actually dealt with wounds. I’m CPR certified, you can’t even-”

“Alright, alright!” Gil rolls his eyes, JT sharing a similar look of aggravation. “JT go get a rag, I’m going to go find a medkit. Can you at least not bicker like children while I’m gone?” He rolls his eyes again, sighing. “Children, I swear.”

As soon as Gil leaves the room, Dani huffs under her breath,” you’re narcissist, pig-head, Bright.”

Bright’s response is a pinched frown,” well, good news. I take medication and I have to go to therapy for my pig-headedness. My therapist says I’m coming along nicely, so.” He moves closer to the edge of his chair, deciding he would rather go wait in Gil’s office than here. Except, he makes it to the edge and his vision hazes out. 

“Bright!” 

He wakes up on the floor, on his ass. He grunts and that gathers the attention of the curly hair beside him. Curly hair turns and there’s Dani. She looks surprisingly swirly, a little spotty. It might be the black dots swimming in his vision, it looks like his physician was right. The thought doesn’t excite him. That smug bastard really needed to be wrong about his iron, Bright also really doesn’t want to have an iron problem.

Dani looks less than amused with him. He tries to move away from her attention, sit up and get away but her hand presses down on his chest. It effectively and easily pins him to the ground, she’s way stronger than she looks. “Sit still.”

He stops fighting. 

“Any particular reason why we’re laying on the floor?” Gil comes around the side of the table and looks at the two of them and shakes his head. He doesn’t look all that surprised and Dani isn’t sure what his stupid smile means. “Clean that cut, Bright, and get some food. JT’s getting you a Powerade, red, it’ll hydrate you and probably fix whatever health crisis has you napping on this floor.”

Bright takes the kit, moving once again before Dani takes the kit. She smacks his hand away and stops him from moving away, pushing his chest so that he leans against the table’s legs, instead of scooting away. “Just give me your stupid hand, okay?”

“I think it’s a very nice-” he hisses and jerks back. She tightens her grip. 

Bright swallows thickly, biting back another hiss. He’s pretty sure this is ‘love’ to her, tough love. With the way she’s attacking his finger, he really hopes soft love is something she can develop. He’d much prefer a shitty sandwich or a poorly made smoothies over her cruel grip and rough scrub down.

“Ow! Ow!”

She tightens her grip, stopping him from pulling away. “Can you stop being a baby? You’ve been hit with guns, thrown into walls, nearly stabbed and bitten by a black mamba I think you should be able to handle a little scratch.”

Bright frowns at the floor mumbling,” you said it would need two stitches. That doesn’t seem so small.”

“Just shut up. God.”

**Author's Note:**

> I can't focus and my writing is taking that blow
> 
> I'm going to fix it by bingeing ER and old SNL skits


End file.
